Saturday, 26 January 2013

Insecurity: Total Move Expatriate Staff Out Of Abuja

Oil major, Total Nigeria Plc, has moved its expatriate staff from the
Nation’s capital Abuja, following the abduction of a French national
last month, Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie said on Friday.The
news will come as a major blow to the FG’s efforts at reassuring the
international community that the country is safe for business. The
latest development makes it the first time in recent history that a
major company has said it has evacuated its foreign staff from the
federal capital due to security concerns.
“What we do first is to limit the number of expatriates, not because
they have more rights to be protected than the others, but because they
are a more interesting target, if I may say,” de Margerie told France 24
television.
He, however did not elaborate on the number of staff moved.
“In Nigeria, we have three installations … We moved our people from
Abuja, which is the city that is most at risk, to Lagos and
Port-Harcourt, and if necessary, we move them back to Paris,” he told
the TV channel on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

65 Nigerians Deported From Europe, Arrive Lagos

Sixty-five
Nigerians yesterday arrived the country from various European countries
after they were deported for a range of offences.
The deportees who arrived at 7.40am, were made up of 48 males, 12
females and five children. Their offences include having expired
documents and being illegal aliens. About eight of the deportees,
including three females, were deported for alleged criminal offences.
The returnees came from Spain, Bulgaria, Romania and the United Kingdom.
The eight persons deported for alleged criminal offences, were
immediately arrested on arrival by policemen and taken to the Criminal
Investigation Department, Nigerian Police Force, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi,
Lagos, in a Toyota pick-up with registration number “Ontario AZKC-549.”
Information Nigeria learnt that the five male deportees initially
resisted arrest, but were later persuaded to cooperate by the policemen.

Photo: Couple Found Literarily Living Under A Rock For The Past 30 Years

“I started coming here when I was 8 years old
to visit the Candelilla (harvesting) fields, and I liked it here. I
liked it and then I continued visiting every three to four months.

I wasn’t married and I didn’t have a family yet, but I liked it and I
had to keep coming to put my foot in (on the property) because lands
here are won through claiming them,” Hernandez told the Hernandez told
the International Business Times,

The home, made of sun-dried bricks and cement, has a dirt floor, a
wood stove, and no plumbing. Electrical service is said to be
unreliable. A nearby stream supplies fresh drinking water. In winter,
though, the water source freezes over.

“It gets very cold here and we struggle to get food. We have to work
hard here on the Candelilla (fields). That’s the only job we have.
That’s what we live from,” said Hernandez.

The couple have seven children, six of whom are married and live nearby.

PHOTOS: 26-Years-Old Gives Birth Twice In 9 Months

A woman has defiled all medical odds after giving birth
to 2 babies in the space of 9 months, even though she was using
contraception both times before she got pregnant.

Coping with a newborn baby can be tough, so spare a thought for
Claire Ormrod who has had to do it twice in the space of just nine
months.

Her son and daughter were born in such quick succession that they will even be in the same class at school.

But what is just as remarkable is that the babies survived at all
after 26-year-old Miss Ormrod suffered dangerous complications during
both pregnancies.

Daughter Alice arrived 15 weeks prematurely, weighing only 1lb 3oz,
while Gareth weighed little more at 2lb when he was born 11 weeks
early.

So serious were their conditions that both were in special care units
at the same time, but in hospitals 230 miles apart. Their mother said:
‘I’m just so grateful they are both still with us.’

Miss
Ormrod has three older children, Molly (7), Jack (5) and Charlie, (2)
and was on the contraceptive pill when she became pregnant with Gareth.

She said: ‘I was absolutely petrified when I found out I was pregnant
again. All of my children, apart from Molly, have been born
progressively early, so I convinced myself I was going to have another
very early, premature baby.

‘My GP said I should have a termination. He said [the pregnancy]
would end up killing me and the baby and that it wouldn’t be fair to put
me through it. But I said no.’

Five-year-old Boy Dies After Falling Off Building’s Third Floor

A five-year old Palestinian boy has died after he fell from the third
floor of his Khalidiya street apartment in Abu Dhabi on Friday morning.

Speaking to reporters, the boy’s parents said that initially their
son was “hospitalised in the Shaikh Khalifa Medical City’s Intensive
Care Unit (ICU) after having suffered from severe injuries.”

But a few hours after the incident, the boy died at about 7pm at the hospital.

The child was at his parents’ house in an apartment on the third
floor when he fell from an open, unguarded window and on to the ground,
as Major General Nasser Salem Al Nuaimi, chairman of the Higher
Committee for Child Protection at the Ministry of Interior, explained.
He was in critical condition as a result of the fall.

A comprehensive patrol was sent to the scene of the accident as soon
as the police in Khalidiya received note of it. The patrol examined the
area and early forensics proved that the child had indeed fallen from a
window even though his parents had ensured all other windows were shut
and secure.

The Abu Dhabi Civil Defence urged all parents to pay close attention
to their children and not to neglect any locks that need repair. A Civil
Defence official told newsmen that regulations prevent parents from
having open windows while children are staying at their home. “We force
building owners in Abu Dhabi to install (windows closers) which keep the
windows secured and not allow them to be opened more than 10 cm
maximum”. [GN]

If
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan thinks his political opponents
are some of the harshest and most unreasonable, he should wait till he
hears this one – some congressional Republicans are calling on U.S
President, Barack Obama, to acknowledge that former Destiny’s Child
singer, Beyoncé, lip-synched during his inaugural event on Monday and
resign from office, effective immediately.
According to Sen. Rand Paul (Republican-Kentucky), “synching the
national anthem, Beyoncé has cast a dark cloud over the President’s
second term. The only way President Obama can remove that cloud is by
resigning from office at once,” he said.
Although media reports have been careful not to heap any of the blame
for the lip-synching controversy on Mr. Obama, Sen. Paul said, “We must
remember that this happened on President Obama’s watch.”
The Republican Senator also slammed the White House for maintaining
silence in the face of the Beyoncé crisis saying it “only serves the
argument that this President has something to hide.
“If Beyoncé lip-synched the national anthem, how do we know President
Obama didn’t lip-sync his oath of office?” he said. “If that’s the
case, he’s not legally President. But just to be on the safe side, he
should resign anyway.”

Gunmen Kill Former NDLEA Boss In Borno

Mr
Hatsiwa Bwala, former State Director of the NDLEA in Borno state, has
been shot dead by unknown gunmen in his home town in Ngwa ward in Hawul
LGA of the state.

The incident which took place around 2pm on Friday has left many
people in a state of shock, as they have never seen such since the Boko
Haram insurgency started in the state.

Information Nigeria learnt that the late Bwala was trailed to his
home town on Friday by the assailants before they shot him dead. Before
his untimely death, he served as the Director of NDLEA in Borno state
during the tenure of former governor, Ali Modu Sheriff.

As at the time of filing in this report the Police Commissioner, Mr.
Yuguda Abdullahi and the state Police Public Relations Officer, Gideon
Jubrin could not be reached for comments.

‘American Idol’ Accused Of Racism By 9 Black Ex-contestants

Nine black former “American Idol” contestants — from
various seasons — are banding together to sue the show, claiming they
were all forced out of “Idol” as part of a racist (and illegal) plot to
boost ratings.

In a letter, submitted to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, a New York attorney James H. Freeman asks for permission to
sue Idol and FOX television channel on behalf of his clients, who have
all appeared on the show.

In his letter, Freeman claims he noticed something fishy about “Idol”
when Jermaine Jones was kicked off on March 15, 2012. Producers had
claimed Jones failed to inform them about multiple outstanding warrants
out for his arrest.

Freeman claims he conducted an investigation into the show — and
found that producers had only publicly disqualified 9 other people from
the show since it first hit the air, and they all happened to be black.

Freeman now alleges that “Idol” has been conducting a “cruel and
inhumane” scheme to exploit and humiliate black contestants for ratings.

According to the letter, Freeman believes the annual “scheme” begins
during the background check stage of the show — when producers ask
wannabe contestants the question — “Have you ever been arrested?”

Freeman claims the question is a violation of CA employment law, and
since his clients were essentially applying for “employment” with Idol,
the show was forbidden from asking contestants about their arrest
history.

But, Freeman claims, the ill-gotten information from the question,
coupled with arrest records obtained by private investigators working
for Idol, were used to humiliate the black Idol contestants on national
TV and in the process, perpetuated “destructive stereotypes” about black
people.

Freeman also claims the show made his clients appear to be “violent criminals, liars and s*xual deviants” when they weren’t.

What’s more, Freeman claims the show has “NEVER once publicly
disqualified a white or non-black American Idol contestant in the
history of the eleven season production.”

How May D And Pete Okoye Made Up

The adage that says no permanent friend of enemy in showbiz may be
true after all as the rift between May D and the twins of the Square
Records, Peter and Paul Okoye has finally come to a halt.

How did this happen? Peter Okoye, the half brother of the sensational
singers popularly called P Square tweeted to congratulate May D on the
birth of his bundle of joy. Wow! It was so amazing to see the two
rumoured ‘arch enemies’ burying their hatchets.

Singer Preaches On ‘Seven Deadly Sins’

According to her, she woke up and a particular nagging though wouldn’t leave her head and she has decided to pour it out.

Read her write up below:

“I woke up this morning and this thought wouldn’t leave my head: The 7 deadly Sins”.

I don’t know why it kept ringing in my head as I hadn’t watched a
movie or even read anything similar to the subject before I went to bed
or even in recent times.

However, never being one to ignore the signs, I decided to do a
little research and read up on “The 7 deadly sins” and it definitely was
an eye opener.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Proverbs 6:16-19. “There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him:

Haughty eyes, (Pride), A lying tongue,(A Liar), Hands that shed
innocent blood,(Murderer), A heart that devises wicked schemes, Feet
that are quick to rush into evil, A false witness who pours out lies and
a person who stirs up conflict in the community”(Gossip).

Lust: Doesn’t relate to just anything s*xual, but relates to an
obsession with pleasure. A disordered desire for inordinate physical
enjoyment. Anyone who can’t get enough of a “good” thing so much that it
turns bad is lustful.

Gluttony: Gluttony isn’t just about excessive eating, it pertains to
wanting anything in excessive amounts even when you have no use for it.
Anyone who wants more than they need or can make use of at any point in
time is a glutton.

Greed: Pertains to an obsessive desire for material wealth and Power.
A desire to amass any and everything the world has to offer. Anyone who
revels in the attainment of wealth and power in order to be better than
and/or have control over others is greedy.

Sloth: Sloth is a kind of spiritual laziness as opposed to mere
physical fatigue. It means not making it a priority to do what we
should, or change what we should in ourselves. Some people might call it
apathy, which means a lack of feeling. An example of sloth is someone
avoiding to do the right thing due to a lack of personal motivation.

Wrath: Wrath or anger is an emotion that makes us want do hostile
things to each other. It isn’t the “anger” itself that is the sin, but
the actions it leads us to should we allow it to. An example of an
action anger can cause is vengeance.

Envy: Envy is the love of what other people possess, rather than what
is Good, Beautiful and True. Anyone who covets what people around
him/her have and wishes it was theirs is envious.

Pride: Pride is actually at the root of all sin. That is why it is
listed first and that’s why I’m talking about it last. This is because
pride is first and foremost inherent in all sin. Proud people are those
that look condescendingly on others. They look at others as inferior in
an arrogant way and see themselves as better than everyone else.

It is pride that makes you envious. It is pride that makes you angry.
It is pride that makes you greedy. Pride is the root cause of lust! Of
gluttony! and if you look closely, of sloth too. Laziness comes out of
believing,you’re too good to do something or an action is beneath you,
therefore you do nothing.

In conclusion, after my research I believe that if we all let go of pride, a lot of wrongs in the world would turn right.

Davido’s manager debunks stormy breakup

The news that David Adeleke aka Davido had sacked his
manager, Asa Asika, started late last year as a beer parlour gist that
soon crept into the social media.

Some reports had it that Davido rudely gave his manager the boot,
while others alleged that Davido’s super rich, doting father gave Asika
the marching order, following the controversies and negative media
reports that trailed Davido’s fun-loving and flamboyant music career in
the past year. Others said that Asika was shown the door unceremoniously
because of his inability to curb the youngster’s excesses in public and
his penchant for strange bedfellows whose bedroom photographs keep
popping up on the Internet.
However, in an interview with Saturday Beats, Asika described all the speculations and allegations as “untrue”.
Asika said, “Really, I don’t like to comment on an issue that
requires me to negatively discuss my friends in the media. All I want to
say right now is, my parting with my artiste is a joint decision and
amicable. I enjoyed a cordial relationship with his father also.
“So, it is false that he or his very accommodating father gave me the
boot; it’s a tough decision I took by myself with my artiste’s consent.
He cannot tell you otherwise.”
Davido could not be reached as at press time.

Cultists almost killed me over a girl –Denrele

Adenrele Edun, the weird on-air personality, works with the South
Africa-based Channel O. The weirdo simply called Denrele who will be 30
years old on June 13, tells Saturday Beat what makes him tick.

I, Denrele

“I’m an angel, I’m a devil. I’m sometimes in-between. Sometimes I’m a
million colour and sometimes I’m black and white. I’m as bad as it can
get and good as it can be. I’m just all-extreme. You try to figure me
out, you never can. But I’m nice to a fault. I can go out of my way to
please people. My mother calls me, ‘Abnormally Abnormal’ and my father
calls me ‘One of life’s unexplainable mysteries’.

My ideal woman

“My ideal woman must be able to dance on extreme high heels. That, to
me, is one of the sexiest attributes a lady can have. To say she must
love kids and be God-fearing is to say the obvious. Don’t quote me on
that. My ideal woman is a lady who is not afraid or ashamed to flaunt
her se*uality. And if we are in public and a man does not look at my
lady, it mean there is something wrong somewhere. So the ideal woman
that I strongly crave must be a head turner!

“She should be able to cook; you might look at me like a broomstick,
but I eat a lot. And this is very important, the woman I will spend the
rest of my life with should have a wild streak because I wake up every
morning with a loud shout (screams). I expect her to do same (screams
louder). I like my woman to have a good reading culture and she should
be able to talk because me I am a chatterbox.”

Why I’m not married

“I’ve not accomplished what I’ve set out to achieve. Besides, I am a
bit afraid of the lifetime commitment right now. I really want to take
some time to have unlimited fun before I jump the broom with my best
girl. I’m really praying for the best.

Most embarrassing moment

“My most embarrassing moment was sometime ago at an event in one of
our universities: I strolled into the night with one of my girlfriends
and we ran into the dreaded cult guys on campus, Wahala! I was
in my 6” high heel shoes, not this 9” I have on. They wanted to deal
with me because I was dating their boss’ girlfriend. They wanted to
strip me unclad and break my legs, so I took to my heels. They thought
my high heel shoes would slow me down when they chased after me with
dangerous weapons, but I ran with my heart in my mouth. Oh, I ran like
a winch with my legs almost touching the back of my head!”

Photo: Kanye West Buys Kim Kardashian $100,000 Cartier Bracelets

Kanye West just showered his classless baby mama, Kim Kardashian with over $100,000 worth of Cartier bracelets.

Kim Kardashian the woman who is known for laying on her back in a s*x
tape, was so excited about her recent gift that she posted a photo on
her Instagram with the caption, “the Don strikes again! #SoLucky!!!”

First up is the famous Love bracelet in yellow gold with pave
diamonds throughout. The bangle set West back a whopping $37,700 but
that didn’t slow down his shopping spree one bit.

Kardashian also received a yellow gold Panthere bracelet complete
with onyx and emeralds for a staggering $29,000 – and that’s the price
of the bracelet without diamonds.

Crazy World: Nigerian Student Beheads Five Neighbours On His Graduation Day

People of Tse-Alaaigyu, Ikyaghev district of Naka, Gwer
West local government area of Benue State are yet to come out of the
shock and unbelief that trailed the heinous killings of five of their
kinsmen by a lunatic, Edwin Gyado, who suddenly ran amok and beheaded
his unsuspecting victims.

Edwin, a 27 year old graduate of the Calvin College of Education
where he bagged an NCE had a history of insanity which also runs in his
family.

Saturday Vanguard gathered from sources in Naka the local government
headquaters that the culprit popularly called Nomjov slaughtered some
his victims at the Naka earth dam, just few metres from their homes and
the site of his local block molding industry.

Our source disclosed that the culprit had over a long period of time,
suffered from mental derangement and was taken to the Makurdi Federal
Medical Centre where he was treated of his insanity and discharged.

But unknown to his people, the young man relapsed into insanity again
until he ran amok, killing his brothers, a woman and children in the
community.

It was gathered that he had invited some his victims to the earth dam
and the factory site pretending that he wanted something interesting to
show his victims but ended up slaughtering them.

Though members of the community meted out jungle justice on the
insane young man by beating him to death in revenge for the bizarre
killings of his victims, his elder brother, Daniel Gyado, a health
worker at the local government secretariat told Saturday Vanguard that
Edwin lived a normal life and interacted very well with the people until
his mental derangement.

Daniel recalled that on Saturday 19th January, 2013, Edwin complained
bitterly to him that his in-laws were pressurizing him to complete the
bride price on his wife which according to him was a directive from the
gods.

He said, “When he told me that, I encouraged him not to be worried by
their complaint and assured him that we would pay his wife’s bride
price after consultations with the village head”.

Daniel added that he was however shocked a day later when someone
called to inform him that his younger brother had gone on rampage in the
village, killing five persons including a woman and her daughter whom
he hacked to death.

“I could not believe it and so, set out to look for him. Someone told
me that he was spotted at Imande village, some few minutes from here,
but later I discovered that a mob had killed him at the Makurdi road in
Naka town”, Daniel said.

Narrating how the man killed one of his victims, Zaki Tor Gbenda who
was a childhood friend of the insane young man before his death said
Edwin hacked a 30 year old Mrs. Nyishima Tyosue a native of
Tse-Dzwatema, Mbayoondu, Gbaange/ Tongov to death.

“The murdered woman was my uncle’s wife. I watched from afar as the
woman pursued Edwin with a stick after he had killed his nine- year old
son Terhile Tyosue with a matchet. Her strength failed her and she fell
down. Edwin who she was chasing suddenly came after her, caught up with
her and ordered her to kneel down. And in a jiffy, I saw him chop off
the woman’s head with the machet. I shouted and he ran after me”, Zaki
said as he fought back tears.

Hitherto, the lunatic had invited his 15 year old brother, Iorguma to
his block moulding site on the pretense that he wanted to show him
something. While there, he chopped off his brother’s head. It was
gathered that the insane man suddenly started pursuing people on the
streets and a community earth dam where he caught up with a 10 year old
Dangote Samuel of Tse-Uchough Nyamshi village and another nine- year old
Joy Ortwav both of whom he seriously injured with his machete but later
died at the Federal Medical center, Apir. “After this last killing, the
people became aware of his escapades, so youths in the village
mobilized themselves and searched the entire village until they caught
him where he was hiding in a bush in a nearby village.

”They had contemplated taking him to the police but they finally
resolved to mete out jungle justice on him by beating him to death”.

Commenting on the unfortunate incident, Chairman of Gwer West local
council, Mrs. Eunice Mbajwa who described the incident as horrifying
said she could not comprehend the unfortunate killings.

“For sometime now, I’ve not been able to sleep well nor have I been
able to resume work, it’s indeed saddening. But generally, we have
ensured that peace prevailed in the entire community”, Mrs. Mbajwa said.

At the time of visiting the troubled village, some youths were seen
digging the grave for the deceased mad man while his shocked wife who
had been sobbing uncontrolably managed to utter these words, “my husband
was a nice man. I never envisaged that he would commit such an act.”

Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, in charge of the state,Deputy
Superintendent of Police Daniel Ezeala who also confirmed the incident,
decried the villagers resort to jungle justice but added that the
command was investigating the matter to ascertain if the man was
actually insane.

Photos: SUV Plunges Into Lagos Lagoon From Third Mainland Bridge

Last
year, a tweet was sent out from the official twitter handle of the
Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, warning motorists to proceed with
caution as a bus reportedly plunged into the Lagoon in Lagos; it turned
out to be a hoax.

But today, early in the morning, a Toyota Sienna reportedly plunged
into the lagoon from Third Mainland Bridge and this is no hoax as Ilaje
fishermen around the area gathered for a rescue operation.

The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), while confirming the
incident, stated that the accident happened at the Adekunle junction of
the bridge.

“A private vehicle fell into the water. Rescue people have sighted
the vehicle and are trying to pull it out,” said Sadiq Abdulrahman, FRSC
Unit Commander Lagos Island.

EFCC Discovers Another Ibori Mansion In Lagos

LAGOS
MANSION BELONGING TO A FORMER GOVERNOR OF DELTA STATE, CHIEF JAMES
IBORI, AFTER IT WAS SEALED OFF BY THE ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES
COMMISSION

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has identified
another property of the former Delta State Governor, James Ibori,
located at No 5, Alpha Beach Road , Lekki, Lagos. The mansion is
suspected to be one of the proceeds of money laundering for which the
ex-governor was convicted in the United Kingdom.In a statement by its
spokesman, Mr. Wilson Uwujiaren, the anti-graft agency said that the
property was discovered on Thursday at No. 5, Alpha Beach Road, Lekki in
Lagos by its operatives.

The EFCC said the property “is suspected to be one of the proceeds of
money laundering for which the ex-governor was convicted in the UK.

“The attachment of the property is the fallout of continued efforts
by the anti- graft agency to trace, find and seize properties that were
acquired with stolen funds by the former governor.

“The property is a mansion with a mini reception at the ground floor and a detached ‘Boys Quarters’.

“Two occupants of the house, Moses Abu and Kaycee Kasim, were interrogated and made useful statements.”

According to pictures released by the commission, the house also has a swimming pool.

Items recovered from the house include sewing machines, mannequins and other personal effects.

They were all packed in cartons and sealed by EFCC operatives before being moved to its office in Lagos.

Information Nigeria recalls that James Ibori was convicted on April
18, 2012 by a United Kingdom crown court and sentenced to a 13-year jail
term for corruption and money laundering

The Untold Story Of How Don Jazzy Gave Life To A Young Man’s Dream

This is a true life story of how Michael Collins Ajereh, better known
as Donjazzy, changed the life of a young man, Tochy K Jnr Oyeoku also
known as TOC. The story is told by TOC himself and testifies to the
benevolent spirit of the media-shy Mavin CEO.First of all; Introduction,
na me be TOC. am an upcoming singer student in Bells University lol.
When I left my house for EME album launch party at club deuces couple of
months back, I didn’t know I was going to meet my break through. We
spoke for a bit and he asked me to give him a call so we can continue
our discussion some other time. His private number was like a huge asset
for me, I crammed it immediately and saved it on my two phones, I kept
on calling and sending text messages, so sad no one was picking, no text
was replied either. At a stage I lost all hope and continued my Under G
striving.

One blessed day I was about to doze off when my phone started
vibrating. I almost ignored the call to get back to whoever when I wake
up, looking on my phone screen I saw “don jazzy” you needed to have seen
how I sat up at once, the sleep flew away like a bird that escaped from
her cage. I booked an appointment and came over to his house.

What a wonderful mansion? I said as I stepped into his compound. He
asked me to play my works, afterwards he complained I sound like Wizkid
and Dammykrane which isn’t far from what D prince, Dr. Sid and Wande are
doing. I pleaded to him to give me just 30 seconds to freestyle there
and then in his studio, I guess he saw the zeal and desperateness in me.

“T.O.C am going to give you an amount of money to work with big
producers in the industry like Sarz, Samklef and J-Sleek,” he said, for
the past 5 years I haven’t been that happy. I didn’t know how exactly to
start expressing my feelings, should I kneel down? or lie down?. The
joy was just too overwhelming I kept on saying thank you sir! I quickly
dropped my account number for him. The next morning. I received an alert
from Mavin Records! (don’t worry about the amount ;) What more can I
say? Don jazzy is a blessing man am forever grateful boss!

Now I have songs produced by Sarz, Samklef, and some other bad a*s
producers, one of them is due to drop tomorrow produced by samklef.

CAN Crisis Deepens As Catholics Are Accused Of Ignorance

The crisis within the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) deepened
yesterday as the Public Relations Officer of CAN in the 19 Northern
States and Abuja, Mr. Sunny Oibe, accused Catholics of arrogance and
blamed the Catholic’s action on the loss of the Presidency of CAN to
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. Information Nigeria reports that the
Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Abeokuta, Monsignor Christopher
Ajala, on Tuesday, alleged that CAN had become an arm of government.In
his reaction to the development, Oibe said, “There are some certain
elements in the leadership of CAN led by Cardinal John Onaiyekan because
he lost CAN Presidency to Oritsejafor who has a lot of achievements.

“There is no need for anybody to lose sleep over the threat by
Catholics to pull out of CAN because without them CAN will still
continue. The constitution of CAN makes provision that membership can be
terminated by any group that is misbehaving or any group can also
terminate their membership.

“Why is it that when Catholics were in the leadership of CAN, every
bloc supported them, but now because power has changed hands, they are
threatening to pull out and causing confusion?

“They have been agitating that the Presidency of CAN must come from
the South. They are appendage of PDP and PDP themselves. They are known
for double standards. A man of God should not be double speaking.”

Oibe who is also the spokesperson for the President of Tarayar Ekklisiyar Kristi A Nijeriya, a conglomeration of 13 church groups in CAN, added that Catholics should not mislead the public even if they want to pull out.

He said, “The Catholics are claiming that the current CAN leadership
has deviated from the vision of the founding fathers when they don’t
even know how CAN came about.”

Pastor Arrested And Charged Over 492 Fake Marriages

A vicar has been charged with presiding over 492 fake marriages in 16 months – equivalent to one a day.

Reverend Nathan Ntege was arrested in June last year following an investigation into sham marriages by the UK Border Agency.

The 53-year-old is accused of conducting a string of fake marriages
at the St Jude’s with St Aidan Church in Thornton Heath, south London,
between December 2009 and March 2011.

Ntege has been charged with 14 immigration offences, including one
offence of conspiracy to facilitate unlawful immigration and 13 charges
of assisting illegal entry in relation to 492 marriages held at his
church.

It is believed the border agency’s Criminal and Financial
Investigation Unit started investigating after a tip off about the vast
number of marriages conducted at the church.

Ntege, who is originally from Uganda but lives in Croydon, appeared
at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday along with his 79-year-old
verger, Brian Miller, of Selsdon, south London, who faces the same
charges.

The pair spoke only to confirm their names and were bailed ahead of a hearing at Croydon Crown Court on Friday.

Gilena Petkova, 50, has also been charged in relation to the alleged offences.

She is accused of being a ‘fixer’ for fake weddings and was allegedly married in a sham service.

Petkova has been charged with conspiracy and five charges of
assisting illegal entry and is due to appear at Camberwell Green JPs on
February 7.

Claire Holder, a lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said last
week there was ‘sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest’ to
prosecute the three.

Ntege was bailed on condition that he does not attend St Jude’s,
officiate at a religious building or service and or apply for travel
documents.

He was suspended by the Diocese of Southwark when he was arrested last year, pending the outcome of the case.

In 2010 Reverend Alex Brown was jailed for conducting 360 fake
weddings in Hastings in a case the CPS described as the ‘biggest sham
marriage case it had seen’.